Call to postpone credit and semester system

KOTTAYAM: The Council of Principals of Colleges in Kerala has called for postponement of the implementation of the credit and semester (C&S) system at the undergraduate level.

A meeting of the council held at Changanassery on Saturday said that nearly 2,000 teaching and non-teaching posts in colleges were lying vacant and unless these were filled, any attempt to introduce the C&S system in colleges at the undergraduate-level would remain ineffective.

Though the authorities were moving ahead with the implementation of the system in colleges in the current academic year, they had not taken any effective steps to provide textbooks, though only a few days were left for the commencement of the classes. The teachers did not have clarity about the new curriculum being proposed under the C&S system.

The principals also pointed out that most of the college had started their admission procedures after the announcement of Plus Two results. Any intervention at this juncture might push the higher education system into a series of legal wrangles, they feared.

They also took exception to the government move to transfer powers now vested with the principals as per the rules of the respective universities to other bodies and said this would affect the college administration seriously.

They asked the authorities to take immediate steps to postpone the implementation of the system by one year.